Canadian Creativity Cools Down

The Grand-Prix-grabbing campaigns of just a few years ago have become a dim and distant memory in the post-recessionary landscape of Canadian advertising, and the creative deficit still shows few signs of recovery. Danny Edwards talks to some of the major players in the industry about weathering the storm, renewing their self-confidence, and propelling Canuck creativity from winter hibernation to a spring awakening.

In the middle years of the 2000s, Canada stood toe-to-toe with the rest of the world when it came to creative clout. Even noisy neighbour, the United States, would have taken notice of the sharp, irreverent, often funny and always perfectly executed spots. As recently as 2007 Canada was centre stage at advertising’s biggest awards show when Ogilvy & Mather Toronto picked up both the Film and Cyber Grand Prix for their fantastic Dove Evolution spot, which took an altogether different approach to beauty
product advertising.

Not long before that, TV work for brands such as Viagra and Vim were garnering plaudits both nationally and internationally. All told, Canada was hot; if not always meteorologically, then certainly creatively. The intervening years, though, have seemed to cool Canada’s artistic ardour. To some it’s an understandable reaction to the financial crisis most Western countries have faced over the last few years. To others it’s a more worrying decline in creative thinking from the industry; from client to agency to production company.

“Other than a few people and places, the state of creativity in Canada is at an all-time deficit,” says Anthony Wolch, creative director at digital agency Organic. “I think it’s because we’re behind the curve and not telling great brand stories [and] I think we’re not doing a great job of helping clients
along either.”

A pretty bleak outlook, but Wolch’s problem is not that Canada can’t be creative in its approach to advertising, more that it chooses not to be. He admits there is some great work out there, but wonders why there isn’t more of it. “When you see great work you know that behind it you’ve got a great client/agency relationship, passionate account people, cognisant strategic directors and creative people who are fighting hard. So if it’s not great work, does that mean you don’t have those things?”

Aaron Starkman is the executive creative director at the newly opened Crispin Porter + Bogusky office in Toronto. CP+B acquired the agency Zig in mid-2010 to set up shop in Toronto, so it would be obvious to think that they believe Canada still has much to offer. Starkman, who was at Zig before the buyout, reveals that CP+B saw Zig, and Toronto, as a great talent resource and were big admirers of the output from the agency. But despite that affirmation, Starkman admits that Canada’s creative standing is not what it was.

“The tally of Lions has certainly gone down,” he says. “The year when we won for Vim was the year Canada had as many Lions as the USA , so that was a great achievement and we’ve really got to get back to where we were. We’ve taken a bit of a step back as a country in terms of creativity – and especially in terms of digital.” Ah yes, digital. It seems amazing that the digital dilemma has caused consternation in the industry for so long.

The digital discussion has dominated advertising seminars and conferences for many years now and, in some cases, it seems that the questions asked have not been adequately answered. While a natural evolution and understanding of the digital space has occurred, and its often huge and positive effect noted, many clients and agencies still grapple with the medium – and Canada is no different.

“It’s funny,” says David Crichton, partner and creative at Grip Limited, “when you talk to some agencies it’s interesting to note how many of them still don’t quite get the digital thing. They work with partners and other digital companies but it’s really hard for them. It’s just another medium and you have to adapt. It’s still about a cool idea. I think people spend too much time trying to define what it is rather than just getting on with it.”

Vito Piazza, managing director and partner at another agency to recently open its doors in Toronto, Sid Lee, believes that while there is certainly room for improvement in the digital arena in Canada, consumers in the country are ahead of the curve in terms of digital adoption. He, like Crichton, also believes that the continual talk about how to harness the power of the internet has become almost comical.

“For me,” Piazza says, “the internet is traditional media. It’s been around for about 15 years now – that’s forever. But there is still a lot of talk, even now, about Web 2.0. I mean, what is that? I’m going to introduce Web 3.0. I don’t know what it is yet but I think if I could just get the title in a conference somewhere it would sell out.”

Education is the key thing, think senior vice presidents and executive creative directors at BBDO Toronto, Carlos Moreno and Peter Ignazi. Making sure that the clients understand both the purpose and the potential of digital campaigns is what will eventually lead them towards embracing digital work.“Certain agencies are grasping [digital] faster than others,” the pair state. “It has to come from the clients to a degree but if they’re not getting it on their own and you’re not introducing it to them as an agency then it’s never going to happen.”

Martin Shewchuk, executive creative director at JWT Toronto, thinks that the lack of digital take-up in Canada is more straightforward than that. “I think digital comes down to dollars and cents,” he comments. “Clients make a decision about their marketing budgets and where they are best spent, and TV in Canada is still the most efficient platform for most medium-to-large clients. It’s an economic decision, I don’t think it’s a lack of faith or even knowledge, it’s just financial.”

Others, though, think that dabbling in digital is part of what might put Canada back on the creative map; that the diversity and untethered thinking the medium requires allows for a much less traditional approach. Todd Mackie and Denise Rossetto, co-creative directors at DDB Toronto, are two such people.

“So much more is expected of creative teams now,” says Rossetto. “You used to get a brief that would say ‘TV, radio and print’ but now you could get a brief that’s open and says nothing other than ‘think of something cool and figure out a way to get people to talk about it’. So in a way, there are more opportunities, they’re just different opportunities.”

From a production side, Carlo Trulli, managing director of Spy Films, still thinks that Canada has a way to go before the three worlds of client, agency and production company collide to generate truly great digital offerings. “We’ve been trying to work out how Spy can get more involved in the digital side of things,” says Trulli.

“Our assets are directors and some of them play more into that medium because they understand it better, but we’re not seeing much of that kind of work here. We’ve done web films, but in terms of the real interactive projects we don’t see them here; we haven’t seen a real push into that digital world from agencies and clients yet.”

Trulli may think that Canadian directors don’t get a fair crack of the digital whip, but JWT’s Shewchuk goes further. He believes that, too often, Canadian agencies look outside the country for directors to helm Canadian projects – and that can only have an adverse effect on the native directorial talent, as well as on the specific projects. He argues that most multinational agencies in Canada exist primarily to service the Canadian market and that by overlooking Canadian talent they do a disservice to both the client and the consumer.

“[Canadian agencies] spend a great deal of their time convincing nclients that there’s a unique Canadian perspective that needs to be represented in the creative idea,” explains Shewchuk. “So we write those scripts and, by and large, our clients agree with them, and then we shoot ourselves in the foot, I believe, when we go back to the clients and say, ‘sorry, there’s no director in Canada qualified to direct your spot’.”

Shewchuk argues that Canadian directors know how to “make more for less” and that flying in “largely B- or C-list directors from the US or the UK” means less of the money goes on the screen. Shewchuk, a former director himself who still takes on the occasional project, has introduced an unwritten rule at his agency that means they only use Canadian directors on their projects. “I think a director raised in the Canadian industry, and who understands it, certainly knows how to make more for less,” he says.

Other agencies, for their part, believe that there is great director talent in Canada but that being Canadian isn’t necessarily the first thing they look for. “We’ll just look at a director’s reel to see if it’s good or not and whether it’s someone we want to work with,” says DDB’s Mackie. “We might not even know if they’re Canadian or not until,” he says tellingly, “we get the budget.” “There’s a bit of extra pride if they’re Canadian,” Rossetto adds, “but we wouldn’t choose someone based on that.” CP+B’s Starkman also praises the country’s directors but, equally, mentions that it’s not always easy to find great ones.

“There are some good Canadian directors out there,” he says. “You sometimes have to look hard for them and they may not have the best spots on their reel, but there’s a lot of talent.” To say the Canadian industry’s attitude is wholly negative, though, would be unfair because while there are certainly issues to be addressed – of which those within the industry are fully aware – there is also a sense of positivity; about the work, the future and the general vibe within the country and especially within Toronto.

“I guess I say this with a certain amount of bias,” laughs Sid Lee’s Piazza, “because you usually want to be a bit more optimistic about the place you’re from, but I always found Canada to be, in proportion to the role it plays in the world, pretty strong from a cultural perspective; arts, music, theatre. I think creatively we hold our own and in Toronto there’s a nice energy, it’s evolved to become more dynamic.” The simple fact that agencies like Sid Lee, CP+B and others, such as David & Goliath, have opened offices in Toronto speaks volumes. Starkman has already mentioned that CP+B saw Toronto as a great talent pool and Piazza feels the same way. “I think there’s lots of ambition in Toronto,” he states.

“And though we’ve gone through a difficult period it feels like we’re coming out of that. Raw talent, combined with ambition is what it takes and Toronto has both. That’s why we opened here instead of in LA, Boston or somewhere else.” Gary Thomas, creative director at Toronto post house Crush, often gets to see the industry from both the agency and production angles and believes that Canada is currently well-placed to start the climb back to the summit of creative excellence. “I think we’re losing a bit of the self-consciousness we had,” he says.

“Being right next door to New York was a reason for some of that; you’re always looking over your shoulder at what’s happening there. But I think people are realising that there are genuinely interesting and creative things happening here. When I try to bring people in to the company from outside of Canada, I sort of describe it as an adolescent; it’s kind of pimply, maybe not the best-dressed country, and it might not have a full sense of itself just yet,” he pauses and smiles, “but you know it’s going to.”